加油

to add oil in Mandarin

The mandarin vocabulary 加油 can also mean to top up with gas, to refuel, to accelerate, to step on the gas, (fig.) to make an extra effort, and to cheer sb on

Mnemomic to remember the meaning

You can remember the meaning of 加油 with this easy mnemonic:

In Chinese, to add (加) oil (油) has two meanings. One is to refuel, and the other is a phrase to cheer someone on!

Using mnemonics to remember the meaning of Chinese characters like can have an enormous impact on how long to learn Mandarin it takes.

加油 is made up of these characters

These characters also appear in these words

Mnemomic to remember the reading

The reading of 加油 is jiā yóu.

You can remember how to say 加油 with this useful mnemonic:

It makes sense, just (jiā) like how you (yóu) would refuel a car to get it going again, sometimes people need some encouragement to keep on moving in life.

Using mnemonics to remember the reading of Chinese vocabulary like has a huge impact on how long to learn Mandarin it takes.

Reading audio

How long does it take to learn Mandarin?

Learning vocabulary like to add oil and the rest of the Mandarin written language can take as little as one year, or as long as a lifetime. Our Mandarin language learners find that using helpful mnemonics can aid retention of Chinese Mandarin vocabulary and characters.

Is it easy to learn Mandarin?

Some students wonder how difficult is it to learn mandarin chinese? Learning any language takes time and hard work, but the best way to learn mandarin online is by using spaced repetition, mnemonics, and gamification to learn basic Manadarin, conversational Mandarin, business Mandarin.

Is it possible to learn Mandarin? Definitely!

Read Chinese in a year

Build your Mandarin vocabulary with Pandanese — a website that integrates spaced repetition, mnemonics, and gamification to teach you over 6,000 Chinese characters with their hanzi and pinyin in as little as one year.

Start now for free!